Monday, April 28, 2014

Reflections on Psalms 106

 Psalms 106(Contemporary English Version)
  1. We will celebrate and praise you, LORD! You are good to us, and your love never fails.
  2. No one can praise you enough for all of the mighty things you have done.
  3. You bless those people who are honest and fair in everything they do.
  4. Remember me, LORD, when you show kindness by saving your people.
  5. Let me prosper with the rest of your chosen ones, as they celebrate with pride because they belong to you.
  6. We and our ancestors have sinned terribly.
  7. When they were in Egypt, they paid no attention to your marvelous deeds or your wonderful love. And they turned against you at the Red Sea.
  8. But you were true to your name, and you rescued them to prove how mighty you are.
  9. You said to the Red Sea, "Dry up!" Then you led your people across on land as dry as a desert.
  10. You saved all of them
  11. and drowned every one of their enemies.
  12. Then your people trusted you and sang your praises.
  13. But they soon forgot what you had done and rejected your advice.
  14. They became greedy for food and tested you there in the desert.
  15. So you gave them what they wanted, but later you destroyed them with a horrible disease.
  16. Everyone in camp was jealous of Moses and of Aaron, your chosen priest.
  17. Dathan and Abiram rebelled, and the earth opened up and swallowed them.
  18. Then fire broke out and destroyed all of their followers.
  19. At Horeb your people made and worshiped the statue
  20. of a bull, instead of you, their glorious God.
  21. You worked powerful miracles to save them from Egypt, but they forgot about you
  22. and the fearsome things you did at the Red Sea.
  23. You were angry and started to destroy them, but Moses, your chosen leader, begged you not to do it.
  24. They would not trust you, LORD, and they did not like the promised land.
  25. They would not obey you, and they grumbled in their tents.
  26. So you threatened them by saying, "I'll kill you out here in the desert!
  27. I'll scatter your children everywhere in the world."
  28. Your people became followers of a god named Baal Peor, and they ate sacrifices offered to the dead.
  29. They did such terrible things that you punished them with a deadly disease.
  30. But Phinehas helped them, and the sickness stopped.
  31. Now he will always be highly honored.
  32. At Meribah Spring they turned against you and made you furious.
  33. Then Moses got into trouble for speaking in anger.
  34. Our LORD, they disobeyed you by refusing to destroy the nations.
  35. Instead they were friendly with those foreigners and followed their customs.
  36. Then they fell into the trap of worshiping idols.
  37. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons
  38. and to the gods of Canaan. Then they poured out the blood of these innocent children and made the land filthy.
  39. By doing such gruesome things, they also became filthy.
  40. Finally, LORD, you were angry and terribly disgusted with your people.
  41. So you put them in the power of nations that hated them.
  42. They were mistreated and abused by their enemies,
  43. but you saved them time after time. They were determined to rebel, and their sins caused their downfall.
  44. You answered their prayers when they were in trouble.
  45. You kept your agreement and were so merciful
  46. that their enemies had pity on them.
  47. Save us, LORD God! Bring us back from among the nations. Let us celebrate and shout in praise of your holy name.
  48. LORD God of Israel, you deserve to be praised forever and ever. Let everyone say, "Amen! Shout praises to the LORD!"

Psalms 106 is a confession of sin on behalf of Israel. Contrasted with Israel's sin is God's faithful love and mercy. The psalmist stated that God's "faithful love endures forever." (106:1) He then demonstrated this truth by recounting Israel's continuous cycle of rebellion starting at the Red Sea with her deliverance from Egypt. Throughout all of these cyles of rebellion, God's faithful love shown bright as He delivered them each time they repented. These cycles of rebellion continued through Israel's desert wanderings and into the land of Promise after God gave them victory over the inhabitants to gain possession of the land. Time after time they turned their backs on God and turned to sinful practices and even to other gods.

During their desert wanderings God used calamities such as plagues or poisonous snakes for punishment, but once they had possession of the promised land He often used oppression by their enemies as punishment. The ultimate punishment, though, was banishment from the land. Verse 47 suggests this was the case at the time this psalm was written. It is possible, even, that it was written during their Babylonian captivity. This ultimate punishment suggests that God's faithful love has limits, though this is not to say it runs out altogether. As the psalm says in verse 1, "His faithful love endures forever," and this was true with Israel. It finally hit a limit and Israel was banished from the land, but even then, God's faithful love did not stop. He allowed this banishment to go on long enough to get Israel's full attention, and the people never forgot it.

God finally returned Israel to the land, but they were never again to enjoy the prosperity they had once known. By this time it had also become clear that man could not keep the law or be faithful to God by his own efforts. Regulations and rituals are powerless to save man. And man is powerless to observe them perfectly. So by the time God returned Israel to her land He began to set the stage for the next phase of His plan for mankind, the provision of a savior - the Messiah. Thus demonstrating that His faithful love does indeed endure forever.

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